Castletroy ease past rivals Ardscoil Ris
Two weeks ago, Castletroy jumped into a seemingly commanding position in the opening minutes when these schools clashed in the quarter-final of the Clayton Hotels Munster Senior Cup.
On that occasion, Ardscoil Ris fought back in magnificent style to emerge comfortable winners.
Accordingly, when these Limerick rivals met again today at the same stage of the Junior Cup at sunny Thomond Park and the game began in remarkably similar fashion, Castletroy banished any semblance of complacency from their performance having again gained supremacy at an early stage of the proceedings.
With two Ardscoil players in the bin, Castletroy took full advantage, running in tries by centre Aiden Walter, out-half Jack Oliver and out-half Gavin Rowsome, all three converted by Oliver, to lead by 21-0 before number eight Colin Kelly reduced the Ardscoil deficit with a fine try.
The score inspired the Ardscoil boys who upped the tempo only to be hit by a fourth Castletroy try on the counter attack by Oliver, a son of Greig, the former Scotland scrum-half and a member of the Munster academy coaching team.
It looked all over at 26-5 for Castletroy but to their credit, Ardscoil were still full of spirit and they ran in a couple of tries by speedy wing Amar Sagana to keep interest alive into the closing stages of a highly enjoyable encounter.
– S Riordan; A Birdthistle, P Hassett, C Noonan, A Jagana; R O’Gorman, M Moloney; K Bolger, S Gully, G Ryan, S Mitchell, D O’Loughlin, T Collins, A Kennedy, C Kelly. Replacements - P Gavin, J O’Mara, K Sexton, E Collins, K Crysczon, C O’Sullivan, H Long, V Oyebeiji, J O’Connor, J Frahill.
– S Kiely; H Lynch, C O’Farrell, A Walter, L Morgan; G Rowsome, J Oliver; O O’Shea, A Aylward, N McLoughlin, O Toland, E O’Connell, R Whyte, R Kelly, L Burke. Replacements – C Davies Molloy, A Sands, C Ryan, L Bennett, A Clinton, N Clancy, A Cummins, G Ryan, M Ivory, R Collins.
– John Adams.
